The Boring, Old-Fashioned Way for Online Freelancers to Make More Money

The Boring, Old-Fashioned Way for Online Freelancers to Make More Money In the 21st century, finding freelance writing markets is more complicated than just opening your Writers Market book. A plethora of websites and apps exist online for freelancers, connecting writers to clients who want to buy their content. While many writers make a sizable living from working on sites such as  Fiverr  and  Upwork, others complain about the low rates clients pay. In fact, many gigs on Fiverr only pay five US dollars, oftentimes for extensive projects. Whats a freelancer to do when theyre earning low income on freelancing websites, and want to expand their portfolio and earn more money? Return to the boring Writers Market book. Online media may fetishize blogs and freelance websites as markets for freelance writers, but print magazines and newspapers still sell and still pay. For example,  AARP The Magazine, based in Washington, D.C., has about 35 million readers worldwide. Its not a market for most beginners, but it pays competitively, offering $1/word for original, unpublished content. Approaching magazine and newspaper editors with your Fiverr and Upwork clips is similar to approaching them with print magazine clips. Write a one-page query that succinctly describes your story idea, describes why the idea would be appropriate for the publication youre pitching, and shows your knowledge of the publication. Describe your previous writing experience and education, if you have any. Submit links to any published articles you may have. If you have no links, promise to submit writing samples in a future email. Get permission from your freelancing clients before you use their content as part of your portfolio. After you submit your query, wait. Wait between three weeks and two months. Print media still runs on pre-Internet time, and this discourages many writers used to fast emails and tweets. But the waiting is worth it. Even in 2018, being published in the print edition of a magazine like  The Atlantic as opposed to the online edition will give your writing career added prestige. Within that three weeks to two months period, you should receive a response from the publications editors. Unfortunately, youll receive a rejection most of the time. All writers receive rejection and have setbacks, but successful writers bounce back from rejection, write queries more appropriate to the magazine they want to crack, and re-submit. They keep on doing this until the editor breaks down and gives them an assignment, an opportunity to create an amazing article. Following are seven great print markets for online freelancers looking to make more money and have better quality gigs. These magazines accept a lot of new writers, and they pay at least 10 cents a word. 1. Wellbeing Magazine (Australia) wellbeing.com.au/contribute Pays up to $700AU for feature articles 2. M: Music and Musicians http://mmusicmag.com/m/   Editor: Rick Taylor Rick@Mmusicmag.com Pays up to $450 for feature articles 3. Symphony Magazine americanorchestras.org/symphony-magazine/about-symphony/submission-guidelines.html Pays up to $900 for feature articles 4. Alaska Airlines Magazine alaskaairlinesmagazine.com/contributor/guidelines/ Pays up to $700 for feature articles 5. The War Cry sanationalpublications.org/submission-guidelines/ Pays $0.35 per word for original content, $0.15 for reprints 6. Virginia Wildlife dgif.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/writers-photographers-guidelines.pdf Pays up to $500 per feature article 7. The Contemporary Sportsman integrateddigitalpublishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/IDP_Editorial_Photography_Guidelines.pdf Pays up to $700 for feature articles